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Smalltember (Smallvember) begins with a return appearance by the Flop House's favorite (insomuch as a terrible asshole can be a favorite) Canadian energy drink magnate-turned-filmmaker, Frank D'angelo, and his latest cinematic leavings, The Joke Thief. Meanwhile, Stuart reveals his love for all things Stu, Dan gives a few minor script notes, and Elliott's Nicholas Cage has snakes on the brain. Show notes

Kaitlin Olson on "Sweet Dee" and the Morally Bankruptcy in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Kaitlin Olson plays Sweet Dee on the long-running sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Dee is the only female member of "The Gang", a bunch of depraved, self-centered pals who run a bar. The Gang is constantly looking for ways to get rich quick, humiliate their enemies, get out of work, and prove once and for all the talent, charisma and brilliance they hold to be self-evident. In an unusual move for a solo female character, Dee doesn't serve to counterbalance the guys' bad behavior -- she absolutely matches their pace.
Olson talks to us about creating a more fully-fleshed character for Dee, how she came to comedy, and how she ended up dating (and marrying) her showrunner.
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia just began its eleventh season. It airs Wednesday nights at 10pm on FXX.

Photo: Jeremy Keith Villaluz

Jeff Chang on Art, Race, and How Diversity Now Means "Them"

Jeff Chang talks to us about what "diversity" means to us today, the struggle for artists to defy racial categorization, and how and why corporations embraced multiculturalism.

Kaitlin Olson plays Sweet Dee on the long-running sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Dee is the only female member of "The Gang", a bunch of depraved, self-centered pals who run a bar. The Gang is constantly looking for ways to get rich quick, humiliate their enemies, get out of work, and prove once and for all the talent, charisma and brilliance they hold to be self-evident. In an unusual move for a solo female character, Dee doesn't serve to counterbalance the guys' bad behavior -- she absolutely matches their pace.

Olson talks to us about creating a more fully-fleshed character for Dee, how she came to comedy, and how she ended up dating (and marrying) her showrunner.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia just began its eleventh season. It airs Wednesday nights at 10pm on FXX.

Kaitlin Olson plays Sweet Dee on the long-running sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Dee is the only female member of "The Gang", a bunch of depraved, self-centered pals who run a bar. The Gang is constantly looking for ways to get rich quick, humiliate their enemies, get out of work, and prove once and for all the talent, charisma and brilliance they hold to be self-evident. In an unusual move for a solo female character, Dee doesn't serve to counterbalance the guys' bad behavior -- she absolutely matches their pace.

Olson talks to us about creating a more fully-fleshed character for Dee, how she came to comedy, and how she ended up dating (and marrying) her showrunner.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is currently in its tenth season. It airs Wednesday nights at 10pm on FXX.

Thirteen years ago, the director Richard Linklater set out to make a very ambitious film. He wanted to make a movie about childhood and growing up, and he wanted it to actually capture the passing of time in the actors' lives. He cast Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette as parents, and an as-yet-unknown seven year old actor named Ellar Coltrane as their son.

Linklater shot the movie bit by bit, over the course of twelve years, and it was released last year in theaters with the title Boyhood. The movie shows a series of moments in a boy's life (and by extension, his parents' lives). He eats dinner with his family, goes bowling with his dad, meets a new stepdad, gets a girlfriend, learns photography, moves away to college.

Richard Linklater and Ellar Coltrane join us to talk about how the movie was conceived, how Coltrane's life and personality was slowly integrated into his character, and which things stayed the same over twelve years of filming.

Boyhood just picked up several awards at this year's Golden Globes, including Best Director and Best Motion Picture - Drama. It's now available on DVD, Blu-Ray and VOD.

When David and Joe Henry set out to write about Richard Pryor, they weren't looking to write a straight-ahead biography. Instead, they produced a poetic and impressionistic portrait of Pryor as a product of the time and place where he lived.

Their book, Furious Cool, explores the cultural landscape of Pryor's life, in addition to the events of his childhood and professional career.

David and Joe Henry join us to talk about Pryor's ascent in the comedy world, some of his most transformative moments, and why he remained so well-loved, even when he behaved atrociously.

If you're a fan of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, then you probably know some of David Hornsby's work, as he's written and produced a number of episodes over the show's seven seasons. Or – you might recognize him from some of his scenes as “Rickety Cricket,” the defrocked priest who is often the butt of the gang's jokes and gets kicked around as a result of their constant scheming. He's created a new animated comedy series Unsupervised, about some surprisingly optimistic teens managing to make their way through life largely, well, unsupervised by any adult figures. Unsupervised premieres this Thursday on FX.

Comedian and Actress Aisha Tyler: Aisha Tyler stars as Lana Kane, one of the super-spies of FX's animated series Archer. She talks about living the real-life version of Fame in high school, funneling her experiences as an outsider into performance and comedy, and the challenges of getting the tone just right when voice acting. You can catch her on CBS's The Talk, her podcast Girl on Guy, or on Archer, which airs new episodes beginning this Thursday. If you want more on Archer, check out our interview with Adam Reed. (Embed or share)

Writer, Producer and Actor David Hornsby: If you're a fan of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, then you probably know some of David Hornsby's work, as he's written and produced a number of episodes over the show's seven seasons. Or – you might recognize him from some of his scenes as “Rickety Cricket,” the defrocked priest who is often the butt of the gang's jokes and kicked around as a result of their constant scheming. He's created a new animated comedy series Unsupervised, about some surprisingly optimistic teens managing to make their way through life largely, well, unsupervised by any adult figures. Unsupervised premieres this Thursday on FX. For more on It's Always Sunny, check out our interview with Glenn Howerton and Rob McElhenney here. (Embed or share)

Marc Maron is releasing his fourth CD today on Comedy Central Records. "This Has to Be Funny" is available as a CD or mp3 download. (BTW, for long-time Maron followers, that's his cat Boomer on the cover). Recently, Marc gave the keynote address at the annual Just for Laughs festival in Montreal. (You can find the text and the audio here). The speech is a moving commentary on the importance of continuing to believe in yourself, and continuing to do good work, even when times are hard. It sends an important message to creators everywhere: Never give up.

Speaking of FX, we're also getting excited about the upcoming season premiere of the quick-witted animated spy comedy "Archer" featuring TSOYA alums Chris Parnell and H. Jon Benjamin. The network will air the first three episodes of the third season in mid-September reserving the rest until early 2012. If you haven't been following the adventures of Sterling Archer, you're missing some of the fastest and cleverest dialogue on television. You can check out the first season on Netflix, but I recommend buying the DVD of that season as it features some very funny and unusual bonus materials.

Rob McElhenney had a short film idea. He roped his friends into helping him film it, and soon it was a sitcom pilot. They took that pilot to FX, and the result was It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. McElhenney, who stars on the show as Mac, is our guest on The Sound, along with one of the buddies he roped into the whole affair, Glenn Howerton. Howerton plays Dennis, and along with their third co-conspirator, Charlie Day, helps write and produce the show.

McElhennye and Howerton talked to us about creating the show without a budget - only a few cameras and some digital video tape. They also explain why people love a set of characters who consistently behave like rude, cruel children. Also: Danny DeVito Limoncello is discussed.